Dubai: Shahid, in Arabic witness, cooperated with Dubai Police last week when he witnessed workers at a construction site stealing scaffolding materials and assisted officers to arrest them.

"During the first three days of the ‘Cooperate with Dubai Police' campaign we witnessed tremendous feedback and cooperation from the public to assist police officers in curbing crimes and offering suggestions in road safety measures," said Lieutenant Colonel Jamal Al Jallaf, Deputy Director of the Criminal Investigations Department for Crime supervision Affairs of Dubai Police.

Last week an Emirati saw a man stealing from a car and tried to follow him to get a better look at his face.

"He gave us detailed descriptions of the suspect and within hours we were able to arrest him. He eased the mission of the suspect's arrest," said Lt Col Al Jallaf.

"Once the campaign is finalised we will measure the magnitude of the public's cooperation and the effect of the awareness campaign in changing people's perception of the police. We are community officers working to enforce the law and maintain safety and security," said Lt Col Al Jallaf.

A woman was recently arrested for throwing a lit cigarette in a parked car after a passerby reported her, he said.

"No one should be worried that they will be part of the investigations when they inform the police of any crime. We ensure absolute confidentiality and cooperation," said Lt Col Al Jallaf.

He said most of the information is received via phone calls to police stations or the operations room and emails.

Police officers are holding public lectures and distributing brochures in shopping malls.

The department will also train watchmen of residential buildings and complexes, said Lit Col Al Jallaf.

Brigadier Khalil Ebrahim Al Mansouri, Director of the General Department for Criminal Investigations, had said earlier that only five per cent of criminal cases are resolved with the assistance from the public and in general there is only a 20 to 30 per cent participation or willingness to assist, which is below par, he said adding that the campaign aims to raise those numbers.

Useful numbers

• Tourist Security — Department of Dubai Police: 800 4438

• Criminal Pursuit — Department of Dubai Police: 04 288 1226

• Wanted persons — Department of Dubai Police: 04 266 0929

• Victim support — Programme of Dubai Police: 800 8989

• Al Ameen Service: 800 4888

• Operations room: 999